The present invention relates to a metal casting device equipped with a continuously rotating supporting element on which a plurality of mutually movable pairs of mold members, each representing a mold chamber section, are carried in succession in the circumferential direction along with the supporting element, the casting device further including adjustment elements by means of which the mold chamber--which is formed of some of the mold member pairs which then rest against one another in the circumferential direction--is closed in the region of the metal intake and--when seen in the circumferential direction--can be opened at a given distance therefrom.
High casting speeds (up to 10 m/min) can be realized with casting devices which are configured primarily as twin belt casters or casting wheels. The twin belt caster has a linear mold chamber from which the cast product is able to leave without unfavorable deformation and whose length does not influence, or at least only insignificantly influences, the structural height of the machine. The drawback of this prior art casting device is that it is technically complicated and, under certain circumstances, cannot be used economically in cases in which relatively small casting outputs are required.
In contrast thereto, casting devices in the form of casting wheels are of relatively simple construction but have the particular drawback that the length of the mold chamber given by the metallurgical conditions results in a large wheel diameter with a corresponding structural height of the machine. As a result of the curvature of the mold chamber, the casting is subjected to unfavorable bending stresses. Moreover, irregular cooling of the developing casting at its upper and undersides cannot be avoided.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,240 discloses a casting device of the above-mentioned type in the form of a casting wheel whose mold chamber is defined, on the one hand, by the rim of the wheel and, on the other hand, by pivotally mounted mold halves. The mold halves can be brought into a closed position by means of cylinders so as to seal the mold chamber toward the exterior or the mold halves can be moved into an open position by pivoting them away from the wheel circumference in order to permit removal of the casting from the region of the casting wheel. The two contacting areas by way of which the pairs of mold members of the embodiment under discussion here support themselves on one another are perpendicular to one another; the cross section of the mold chamber can therefore not be adapted to the shrinking processes occurring when the liquid metal solidifies.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,917 discloses a casting device having a worm-type mold which is formed by two rotating caterpillar chains which cooperate with one another in the region of the mold chamber. This prior art casting device as well does not permit adaptation of the mold chamber cross section to the above-mentioned shrinking processes.